Mandel: The Michigan sign-stealing story reaches a new low point with coaches and boosters being linked to it
It turns out that Michigan’s administration and lawyers were right last week when they said that the Big Ten was too quick to suspend Jim Harbaugh for three games.
The Big Ten ought to have wait a week before speaking out about the Wolverines’ in-person scouting incident.
Michigan suddenly took back its angry request for a temporary injunction against the Big Ten as well as commissioner Tony Petitti on Thursday.
It seems that the school decided that Harbaugh’s suspension was no longer “irreparable harm.”
When the school fired defense coach Chris Partridge all of a sudden 24 hours later, it made a lot more sense.
According to Yahoo, Partridge hid computer proof after the fact. Earlier reports said that Partridge was close to the Stallions.
According to Austin Meek of The Athletic, sources at Michigan think Partridge messed with the NCAA’s investigation into Michigan’s supposed in-person scouting scheme, but they haven’t decided for sure that he had been directly involved.
According to Yahoo, the NCAA gave the school new proof this week that a booster named “Uncle T,” which is a great name for a cheating booster, helped pay for staff member Connor Stallions’ plan to buy tickets to opponents’ games and hire people to film the other team’s sideline.
Katie Strang of The Athletic talked to Tim Smith later Friday. Smith is the backer who is linked to the “Uncle T” identity. Smith said he talked to the Stallions yet denied doing anything wrong.
The Big Ten has suspended Michigan and coach Jim Brady for three games for breaking the conference’s rules on good behavior.
In exchange, the Big Ten decided to stop looking into claims of illegal sign theft using advanced technology and scouting, while the NCAA kept looking into the same thing.
Harbaugh can’t play in the final regular-season games towards Maryland and Ohio State, but he can still go to practices and other events on days when football games aren’t going on.
“The Big Ten Conference’s dedication to student-athletes, sportsmanship, as well as the Commissioner’s job to protect the honesty of competition will not waver,” the league office stated in a statement.
The University of Michigan dropped its lawsuit against the League’s November 10th Notice for Disciplinary Action today.
This shows that the Conference as well as the University are committed to upholding high standards and values.
“The University of Michigan is an important member for the Big Ten Conference, and the Conference is going to continue to work with the NCAA and the university in this matter.”
The NCAA is looking into Connor Stallions, a former employee who is said to have gotten tickets to more than 30 games, many of which were in the Big Ten, and used “illegal technology” to take away signs.
After the NCAA’s probe, Stallions quit his job at Michigan on November 3. During that time, he was suspended with pay.
Even though Harbaugh has had problems with the NCAA in the past, he says he has no knowledge of the plan.
Michigan plays in the Big Ten conference. The NCAA, which is in charge of college sports, says that over the last three seasons, Michigan used a “vast network” of people to tape the sides of future opponents, both within and outside of the conference.
Michigan and their coach, Jim Harbaugh, say they had nothing to do with the alleged cheating.
The Big Ten told Harbaugh on Friday that he can’t be on the field on game days for the rest of the 2023 regular season. He can still work with his players during the week, though.
Harbaugh is one of the most famous people in college football, and Michigan is one of the teams that could win the national title this season. The suspension is big news in the sport.
Over 110,000 people usually show up to Wolverines home games, and they make tens of millions of dollars a year.